


Tightrope

by quiet__tiger



Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Dark, Drama, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-23
Updated: 2017-04-23
Packaged: 2018-10-23 05:07:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10712817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quiet__tiger/pseuds/quiet__tiger
Summary: Bruce never made it to the circus.





	Tightrope

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: "A Different Life."
> 
> Originally posted to Livejournal 15th-Jul-2008.

Batman threw a thug into the wall, giving him a concussion. He used the razor-sharp edges of his gauntlet to slash the last one to attack him. He looked around, trying to find...

Yes. There he was. The athletic kid Zucco used. He stalked up to Batman. Then he sneered. The action managed to make the scarred face more unattractive.

Batman hadn’t used a batarang or other weapon against the kid when starting the fight. He almost wished he had now; that self-satisfied face in front of him was pissing him off.

The lean figure in front of him spat, “You looking for me?”

Batman growled, “You’re the only remaining full-time member of Zucco’s gang.” He gestured towards the collection of unconscious thugs around them. “They were too new. You’ve been with him a long time.”

The kid took a switchblade out of his pocket, ostensibly cleaning his fingernails, but no doubt waiting for Batman to strike. “Since I was nine. Took me in after my parents died.” He casually spun the blade between his fingers.

“He murdered them. And stole you.”

The blade stopped. “No, he didn’t.”

Batman moved closer, wary of the hand with the blade striking out at him. “He sabotaged the trapeze. Then he saw you alone, overwhelmed. And he _took_ you.”

The dead blue eyes boring into his displayed nothing. There was nothing inside the kid, if there ever had been. “Say that’s true. Which it’s not. At least he didn’t leave me for some shitty foster care system. He took me in, raised me, gave me a life.”

“You steal, you maim, and you extort. And then he uses you when he needs someone faster than the overweight idiots he generally has around him.” He knew the kid—Grayson—was special to Zucco. And he used him where he needed someone lithe, slippery, and smart.

But he’d gotten hurt along the way, burned by something while committing a crime somewhere. He looked strong but somehow unhealthy at the same time.

Too bad, all of it.

If only Bruce had... No. No point in worrying about it now.

“Dick.” The kid flinched. “I’m offering you a chance to stop this. You help me clean up the parts of Gotham you have access to, I won’t bring you to the GCPD. And I won’t fight you.”

The kid smirked and started spinning the blade again. “You think you can beat me?”

“I know I can.”

“Try.”

Batman waited for Grayson to make the first move, and when he did Batman bided his time. Dodge, hit, kick... And wait. Finally the kid did it, that quadruple somersault that had made him famous all those years ago.

Third turn and... Batman leapt, kicked, and knocked Grayson out cold.

Batman didn’t want to do it, but he needed to round up Zucco’s gang and everyone it touched. He really needed Grayson’s help, voluntary or not.

He’d agree to help him. Immuring people in the Cave usually made them compliant.


End file.
